Worst episode of Mad Men, according to IMDb

As an avid Mad Men fan, I would argue that there is no such thing as a “worst episode”. Although, if you’re going to rank each episode, something has to have the lowest score — even if it’s not very low. On IMDb, as with movies or entire TV series, you can rate individual episodes on a scale of 1 to 10, and the ratings are then combined and the overall score is based on the median. Taking all points into account for each episode, the lowest-rated Mad Men episode was “The Ladies’ Room,” which is only the second episode of the first season and scored a 7.5 rating based on 4.3K viewers. votes.

I’m surprised this isn’t an episode from one of the later seasons, especially season six, where Don Draper’s Dante’s Inferno, like the hell of repeating bad habits, becomes a bit tiresome to watch. What, exactly, separates the audience from the “Women’s Room”? It might seem like a no-brainer after continuing one of the best pilots of all time, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, which introduced us to handsome, shrewd ad man Don Draper. Unforgettable moments follow after another, from Don summing up consumerism and advertising as a balm for happiness, to the stunning ending when he returns home after drinking, smoking and meeting in the West Village to his loving wife and sleeping children. Still, The Ladies’ Room has a lot of merit — especially in the second episode — so the “worst episode” label seems too harsh.

“Some TV shows have a hard time establishing an identity in their first season, but ‘Mad Men’ knew what they wanted to be in the first episode.” /Screenwriter Liam Gaughan astutely notes in his ranking of the season, the same can be said about the “Women’s Room”. This episode immediately shows that Mad Men is a novelistic novel you should pay close attention to, interested in exploring the psychological traits of its characters. The Ladies’ Room isn’t as dramatically exciting as some of the upcoming episodes, but the little details we discover are important and will blossom in future episodes.

The Ladies’ Room sets up Donne’s secrecy as he avoids questions about his childhood, but mostly shows that the female characters are just as important to the narrative. Mad Men will be equally concerned with how they navigate a patriarchal world. Peggy must navigate the minefields of her lecherous colleagues, their incessant advances gradually destroying her naivete. The scenes where Betty attends psychoanalysis are a bit long, but they help to articulate her suburban longing and jealousy of the freedom and stronger sense of self of the recently divorced Helen. However, this confessional is not even a safe place for her thoughts and emotions, as the final scene reveals that her psychiatrist is discussing her sessions with Don over the phone.

The surprising element of “Ladies Room” is that it ends with RJD2’s modern “Beautiful Mine” which sounds like an electronic lullaby. This could indicate that Dawn often looks at her with childlike innocence, expecting her to be nothing more than a happy housewife. While The Ladies’ Room didn’t reach me list of the best Mad Men episodes.it’s still a very solid movie that doesn’t deserve the “worst episode” label.